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Author: bibleandbeeswax
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Was Jesus Married with Children? Here We Go Again
Was Jesus Married with Children? Here We Go Again
By now, most have probably heard the news splash about the forthcoming book by Simcha Jacobovici and Barrie Wilson, The Lost Gospel: Decoding the Sacred Text that Reveals Jesus’ Marriage to Mary Ma… -
The Necessity And Limits Of The Imitation Of Christ (2)
The Necessity And Limits Of The Imitation Of Christ (2)
Big debate in the Reformed world. Good summary of what it means to imitate Christ.
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The Van Gogh That Breaks My Heart
The Van Gogh That Breaks My Heart
Vincent van Gogh aspired to become a Calvinist pastor, like his dad. He pursued ministry in the Dutch Reformed Church until he hit a roadblock by failing his academic training, and then experienced what personal failure often breeds: disillusionment. He became disenchanted with pastoral ministry… -
Let Them Come Home (John and Abraham Piper)
Let Them Come Home (John and Abraham Piper)
In a recent Christianity Today interview, John Piper recounts the painful events surrounding the excommunication of his 19 year old son, Abraham. The night after that excommunication, I called him … -
The Book of Revelation: How Difficult Was Its Journey into the Canon?
The Book of Revelation: How Difficult Was Its Journey into the Canon?
The story of the New Testament canon is a fascinating one, with many twists and turns. There are books that were accepted very quickly, almost from the start (e.g., the four gospels), and there ar… -
The Cosmic Navel, The Silver Cord: The Body of Christ
I am reading an article concerning Jewish (rabbinic) thought on the possibility of incarnation. The author suggests that a rabbinic form of prayer, kawwanah, implies that if God is capable of being ‘imaged’ in prayer in His shekhinah glory, then He is capable of incarnation. But in the midst of all of this he spends a good bit of time discussing the direction of prayer, and how the Holy of Holies is to be prayed towards because it houses the glory-cloud of God, enthroned between the cherubim. He says,
Prayers are to be directed to…the cosmic navel, the Holy of Holies in the Temple of Jerusalem.
But when you consider what Christ tells us about prayer it blows all of this rabbinic nuancing out of the water. The true believers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth–not towards Jerusalem, not towards Samaria–but in Spirit. Similarly, we are taught that the Church in Christ is the ‘naos’–the inner-chamber of the temple–to the Holy Spirit. We do not pray to a location because we are the location of God’s glorious presence through the Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21). In this sense, those joined to Jesus by faith are the ‘cosmic navel’, the belly-button of the universe. Since Jesus has sent us the Spirit, and intercedes with the Father in the heavenly ‘temple’, we have access to God that those outside of Christ cannot begin to fathom.
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Melito-Origen
Did you know: Origen charged Melito of Sardis with heresy? Gasp! Yes, Origen believed that the beloved Melito taught the corporeality of God. But Origen probably mistook Melito’s teaching about the incarnation as teaching about the being of God as consisting eternally as a body.
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Two Reasons I am a Calvinist (from the book of Acts)
Two reasons I am a Calvinist:
“When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.” (Acts 13:48)
“A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening: and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.” (Acts 16:14)